IN THE BEGINNING…

Hobby Lobby…I was there for art supplies; he was working in the hobbies department…it was here that he not only caught the spark for screen printing, but for me as well.

As we were getting ready for our 20th….digging through old photos for our anniversary banner, Mike and I found so many sketchbooks, journals, notebooks full of poems, letters to each other, stickers, patches and yes, of course, t-shirts we made when we were dating…but back then and even well into running our print shop, we struggled to call ourselves artists. These were such formative years, the few between us meeting and us starting the ASG…we were dreaming of our life together…

But we are also both first generation business owners and got started at such a young age in a trade that was often mistaken as a hobby more than a way to make a living, especially not with both of us involved. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, we were indoctrinated to think that a four year degree was your only ticket to success. And if you did want to start a business, well, “go get your degree in business or fine arts so you always have something to fall back on and can get a real job someday”.

This was not definitely not conducive to creativity and we didn’t really have anyone encouraging the alternative, so we sorta just “fell in line”. We agreed, since Mike was the talent behind the screens, I would be the one to finish school and get a “real job”. I was a young wife, soon to be new mom, working part-time, going to school part-time, all while helping my husband build our business…easy - peasy, no pressure. It’s no wonder the creativity that came naturally to me was quickly stifled. This “dress for success”, ‘you have a baby, you probably shouldn’t be selling shirts with skulls anymore” and “finish your degree” mindset was a total dream killer or so it felt at the time.

I remember being pulled in so many different directions those first few years, but I also recognized very early on how “right” it all felt when we were there there together. Even when we feared we had lost our way sometimes, we were there to remind each other of the love and creativity that started it all.

I’m skipping ahead a little in our story, but we continued this pattern for a few more years until we had our daughter. It was only after she was born that I fully realized my true role in our family business. Of all the hats I’d worn and still wear today, “Mom” is and always will be the greatest. Motherhood was where I found my purpose and inspiration. Embracing this role first was when I able to re-cultivate the creativity and I thought I lost and express myself in new and more fulfilling ways.

Photos Starting w/ Top Left:

• June 1998 - Marissa waiting for her life to begin…I got to hang out with Mike that night for the first time and it’s been an adventure ever since.

• June 1998 - Mike hanging with his skate crew (the Hated) waiting for his life to begin (then he met me…)

• Summer 1998 - Mike and I hanging in his room, making music

• Mike’s Hobby Lobby name tag and the first patch he made with a Speedball DIY screen printing kit he got at work

• T-shirts made for Mike’s first band, No-Skoto

• Stickers I made on our family PC - I used Windows ‘95 paint clipart to design these

• A Thee Pirates patch Mike printed as a gift for me

• A second No-Skoto design by your’s truly and printed by Mike

• MARZ patch Mike drew for me, so I sewed it on a hoodie…(fun fact - Marz was my nickname in middle and high school. I thought I “grew out of it”…but it’s recently made a very welcomed comeback)

• Late 1998 - Mike, at his first job in a print shop…printing thousands of plastic bags that he almost lost his mind.

• Late 1999 - Mike’s first business card, made again on my home computer

• Summer 2000 - Mike and I pictured outside my childhood home in the southwest side of San Antonio saying “goodbye”. We had decided to devote six months to serve abroad. He would go to Mexico and I went to South Africa….

  So many stories, so little time.